The British Army contributes two of the three special forces formations within the United Kingdom Special Forces Command; the Special Air Service Regiment and the Special Reconnaissance Regiment.

The most famous formation is the Special Air Service Regiment. Formed in 1941, the SAS is considered the role model for many other special forces units in the world.

The SAS comprises one regular Regiment and two Territorial Army Regiments.

The regular Regiment, 22 SAS, has its headquarters and depot located in Hereford and consists of five squadrons: A, B, D, G and Reserve with a training wing. The regiment has battlespace roles in deep reconnaissance, target identification and indication and target destruction and denial.

The two reserve SAS Regiments; 21 SAS and 23 SAS have a more limited role, to provide depth to the UKSF group through the provision of Individual and collective augmentation to the regular component of UKSF and standalone elements up to task group (Regimental) level focused on support and influence (S&I) operations to assist conflict stabilisation.

The Special Reconnaissance Regiment (SRR) which was formed in 2005, from existing assets, undertakes close reconnaissance and special surveillance, tasks.

Formed around 1st Battalion the Parachute Regiment, with attached Royal Marines and RAF Regiment assets, the Special Forces Support Group are under the Operational Control of Director Special Forces to provide operational manoeuvre support to the elements of United Kingdom Special Forces.

9. Recruitment

The Army mainly recruits within the United Kingdom, it normally has a recruitment target of around 25,000 soldiers per year.

Low unemployment in Britain has resulted in the Army having difficulty in meeting its target, in the early years of the 21st century there has been a marked increase in the number of recruits from other (mostly Commonwealth) countries. In 2008 Commonwealth origin volunteers comprised approximately 6.7% of the Army's total strength. In total 6,600 foreign soldiers from 42 countries were represented in the Army, not including Gurkhas. After the Gurkhas (who are from Nepal), the nation with most citizens in the British Army is Fiji, with 2,185, followed by Jamaica and Ghana with 600 each; many soldiers also come from more prosperous countries such as New Zealand, South Africa and the Republic of Ireland.

The Ministry of Defence now caps the number of recruits from Commonwealth countries, although this will not affect the Gurkhas. If the trend continues 10% of the army will be from Commonwealth countries before 2012. The cap is in place as some fear the army's British character is being diluted, and employing too many could make the army seen as employing mercenaries.

The minimum recruitment age is 16 years (after the end of GCSEs), although soldiers may not serve on operations below 18 years; the maximum recruitment age was raised in January 2007 from 26 to 33 years. The normal term of engagement is 22 years, and, once enlisted, soldiers are not normally permitted to leave until they have served at least 4 years.

There has been a strong and continuing tradition of recruiting from Ireland including what is now the Republic of Ireland. Almost 150,000 Irish soldiers fought in the First World War; 49,000 died. More than 60,000 Irishmen, more than from Northern Ireland, also saw action in the Second World War; like their compatriots in the Great War, all were volunteers. There were more than 400 men serving from the Republic in 2003.

10. Oath of allegiance

All soldiers must take an oath of allegiance upon joining the Army, a process known as attestation. Those who believe in God use the following words:

I (your name), swear by Almighty God that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, her heirs and successors and that I will as in duty bound honestly and faithfully defend Her Majesty, her heirs and successors in person, crown and dignity against all enemies and will observe and obey all orders of Her Majesty, her heirs and successors and of the generals and officers set over me.

Others replace the words "swear by Almighty God" with "solemnly, sincerely and truly declare and affirm".

11. Training establishments

-Royal Military Academy Sandhurst (RMAS) is the officer training establishment. All officers, regular and reserve, attend RMAS at some point in their training.

-Army Training Regiments:

-ATR Bassingbourn

-ATR Winchester

-ATC Pirbright

-Infantry Training Centres:

-ITC Catterick

-Infantry Battle School, Brecon

-Support Weapons School, Warminster

-Army Foundation College (Harrogate)

-Regional training centres

-Welbeck Defence Sixth Form College

12. Flags and ensigns

he non-ceremonial flag of the British Army. Sometimes the word Army in gold letters appears below the badge.The British Army does not have its own specific ensign, unlike the Royal Navy, which uses the White Ensign, and the RAF, which uses the Royal Air Force Ensign. Instead, the Army has different flags and ensigns, for the entire army and the different regiments and corps. The official flag of the Army as a whole is the Union Flag, flown in a ratio of 3:5. A non-ceremonial flag also exists, which is used at recruiting events, military events and exhibitions. It also flies from the MOD building in Whitehall.

Whilst at war, the Union Flag is always used, and this flag represents the Army on the Cenotaph in Whitehall, London (the UK's memorial to its war dead). A British Army ensign also exists for vessels commanded by a commissioned officer, the Blue Ensign defaced with the Army badge. Army Vessels are operated by the Maritime element of the Royal Logistic Corps.

Each Foot Guards and line regiment (which does not include The Rifles and Royal Gurkha Rifles (RGR)) also has its own flags, known as Colours--normally a Regimental Colour and a Queen's Colour. The design of different Regimental Colours. vary but typically the colour has the Regiment's badge in the centre. The RGR carry the Queen's Truncheon in place of Colours.

13. Ranks, specialisms and insignia

Every regiment and corps has its own distinctive insignia, such as cap badge, beret, tactical recognition flash and stable belt.

Throughout the army there are many official specialisms. They do not affect rank, but they do affect pay bands.

14. Royal Navy and RAF ground units

The other armed services have their own infantry units which are not part of the British Army. The Royal Marines are amphibious light infantry forming part of the Naval Service, and the Royal Air Force has the RAF Regiment used for airfield defence, force protection duties and Forward Air Control.

15. Overseas Territories military units

Numerous military units were raised historically in British territories, including self-governing and Crown colonies, and protectorates. Few of these have appeared on the Army List, and their relationship to the British Army has been ambiguous. Whereas Dominions, such as Canada and Australia, raised their own armies, the defence of Crown possessions (like the Channel Islands), and colonies (now called Overseas Territories) was, and is, the responsibility of the UK (due to their status as territories of Britain, not British protectorates). All military forces of overseas territories are, therefore, under the direct command of the UK Government, via the local Governor and Commander-In-Chief.

Many of the units in colonies, or former colonies, were also actually formed at the behest of the UK Government as it sought to reduce the deployment of the British Army on garrison duties around the world at the latter end of the 19th century. Today, three overseas territories retain locally-raised military units, Bermuda, Gibraltar, and the Falkland Islands. The units are patterned on the British Army, are subject to review by the Ministry of Defence, and are ultimately under the control of the British government, not the local governments of the territories (though day-to-day control may be delegated to Ministers of the territorial governments). Despite this, the units may have no tasking or funding from the MOD, and are generally raised under acts of the territorial assemblies.

-Bermuda Regiment

-Royal Gibraltar Regiment

-Falkland Islands Defence Force

16. Conclusion

The British Army was formed in 1707 with the unification of England and Scotland into the United Kingdom of Great Britain. Throughout history it has seen action in almost every corner of the globe, and employs soldiers from many different areas of the commonwealth including Australia, India, Ghana, South Africa, the Republic of Ireland and the famous Nepalese Gurkhas. There are approximately 100,000 regular personnel and 26,000 territorial army soldiers currently deployed as part of the British Expeditionary Force and as United Nations peacekeepers in many countries worldwide, including Cyprus, Iraq, Afghanistan , the Balkans and Germany.

The British Army has always been at the cutting edge of military technology, and currently uses some of the most high-tech and effective equipment available including state-of-the-art Challenger 2 battle tanks, WAH-64D Apache gunship helicopters and the much improved SA80A2 Rifle.

17. Bibliography

1. Charles Heyman, "Armed Forces of the United Kingdom".

2. ED Griffin, "Encyclopedia Modern British Army Regime"

3. Carver, M., "The Seven Ages of the British Army"

4. General H. Landlois, "The British Army in a European war"

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